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Aftermath of the Tucson Shootings; Arizona's Political Climate; Southern Snow & Ice; Rep. Giffords Medical Care; Giffords' Synagogue Holds Vigil

Aired January 09, 2011 - 17:02   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Recapping now what we know about the suspect and the victims of that shooting rampage in Tucson, Arizona. Jared Loughner was arrested right after the shootings, and he now faces five criminal counts of attempted murder and murder. The 22- year-old is expected to make his first court appearance tomorrow. Six people were killed, among them a federal judge. Fourteen people were wounded. The most critically injured is Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was meeting with constituents when the gunfire broke out. She was shot in the head, and is the only victim still in intensive care right now. Doctors, though, say they are cautiously optimistic.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. PETER RHEE, MEDICAL DIR., UMC TRAUMA CENTER: This morning, she was able to respond and almost to the level that she was before the surgery, so we're very happy about that. Of course, any time you deal with neurosurgery and brain surgery, things can change at the moment, minute to minute. And so we're going to be careful that she doesn't get into trouble over the next several weeks.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: President Obama is calling for a moment of silence at 11:00 AM Eastern time tomorrow. Flags are already flying at half- staff in Washington and across Arizona. CNN news crews are out in force to bring you the latest on the investigation, the victims, the witnesses, security issues, and of course, the politics of it all.

Meantime, the Pima County sheriff's office has now released the 911 call that came in just after that shooting yesterday. And as you can imagine, the scene was chaotic, so be warned there is a lot of screaming and moaning in the background as the witnesses are calling for help. Here is one of the many calls the operators fielded.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello. There was a shooting at Safeway.

911 OPERATOR: OK, what do you mean?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) where Gabrielle Giffords was. And I do believe Gabby Giffords was hit.

911 OPERATOR: At Safeway, sir?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, Safeway.

911 OPERATOR: All right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You OK?

911 OPERATOR: Was somebody shot then, sir?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. The guy -- it looked like the guy had a semi-automatic pistol, and he went in, he just started firing, and then he ran.

911 OPERATOR: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got pictures. We got...

911 OPERATOR: Which way did he run?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He ran north past the Walgreen's that's right next to the Safeway.

911 OPERATOR: OK. Can you describe him?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What?

911 OPERATOR: Can you describe him, sir? What was he wearing?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was wearing a hoodie.

911 OPERATOR: What color was the hoodie?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was black.

911 OPERATOR: OK. What color were his pants?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He looked like he was wearing blue jeans, and he was wearing a black sweater.

911 OPERATOR: OK. Was anybody injured? Did you say Gabrielle Giffords was hit?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's hit.

911 OPERATOR: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do believe she's breathing. She is breathing. She still has a pulse. And we got two people...

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we got -- we got one dead.

911 OPERATOR: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And they are injured. 911 OPERATOR: OK. And there's other people that are injured?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) other people. There's multiple people shot.

911 OPERATOR: OK. Oh, my God.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So Tucson operators logged the first 911 call just after 10:00 AM local time yesterday. They immediately became inundated with calls alerting them to the tragedy.

So joining us on the phone now -- Jeffrey Toobin is with us because we've also learned now, Jeffrey, about the counts that this young man is facing, Jared Loughner now facing five counts. This is really just the beginning, is it not? We're talking about congressional attempt to kill, two counts of first-degree murder, as well as attempted murder charges. What may follow from here?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST (via telephone): Well, this is the initial -- this is the beginning of the legal process against this defendant. And these charges only relate to the attempt to kill the congresswoman, the actual murder of her staff members and the murder of a federal judge in the performance of his duties.

One of the interesting things about this complaint is it discloses some new information about what went on here. It asserts that Judge Roll was not present by coincidence. He actually made arrangements to meet with the congresswoman and her staff about the issue of overcrowding in the federal courts. So he was working. He was planning on meeting with the congresswoman and her staff.

WHITFIELD: So because there was some federal or official business being conducted, that, too, impacts the types of charges that would be imposed?

TOOBIN: Correct. If he were just a random person who happened to be here at the supermarket, his murder would only be a state crime. And I say "only." He would be eligible for the death penalty. The defendant would be eligible for the death penalty for that alone, but it wouldn't be a federal crime. What makes it a federal crime is that the complaint says that Judge Roll was planning on discussing his work, which means it was in the performance of his duties.

WHITFIELD: OK. And then when we talk about this congressional attempt to kill, this is an attempted assassination charge being leveled against him. These are federal charges, as you outlined, because these are federal personnel that we're talking about. But because there were in all 20 people, many of whom are civilians, there will also be state or other charges that will be imposed, right?

TOOBIN: That's likely. I mean, this is going to be a long process. The state authorities and the federal authorities will have plenty of time to work out who goes first, how this all works. Another very important piece of evidence that was disclosed in the complaint was that federal authorities found information on Loughner's person with an address. They executed a search warrant at his address and found an envelope which said, I planned this. It had Giffords's name on it, and it referred to "my assassination." So again, very important relating to the issue of premeditation. That will be an important part of the case.

WHITFIELD: Because that helps support that first-degree murder charge.

TOOBIN: Right. And we also now know that a defense attorney has been appointed.

WHITFIELD: In fact, I want to ask you a little bit about that because I understand that person being identified as Judy Clark (ph) as the federal public defender for Loughner. And while Clark is a veteran defense attorney paid by the government, based in San Diego, this is someone who is also considered a kind of roving federal defender. Explain how that works.

TOOBIN: Well, she's a very highly regarded defense attorney. She has run the federal defenders office in several different locations, including San Diego, where she's based now. And she has been appointed by the federal government to defend people in similarly high profile cases. The most famous and most notorious is Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber. And she was Ted Kaczynski's main lawyer for a long time, and she negotiated a very difficult, lengthy negotiation with the federal government which ended successfully from her perspective with a life sentence without parole, rather than the death penalty.

Not to look too far ahead, one could imagine that this is likely to be a similar type of negotiation since, at least at this point, there doesn't appear to be a much of "who done it" to this particular crime.

WHITFIELD: Senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, thanks so much for your time. Appreciate that.

In the meantime, investigators are trying to learn more about the suspect, Jared Lee Loughner. CNN's Susan Candiotti is now in Tucson. What more are we hearing about the suspect, or even the direction of this investigation?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, one of the things, Fred, they want to look at is whether the suspect in this case, Jared Lee Loughner, was acting alone or whether anyone else was helping him. We know this much. Very early this morning, they put out a videotape, a surveillance camera picture of a man that authorities said they wanted to speak with because they spotted him in that grocery store at the same time Loughner was there before the shooting began. And so they were asking for the public's help to try to locate this man. They said he was between 40 and 50, and he looked a certain way.

And they -- eventually, it turns out, they found him, and they were able to clear him from any involvement in the shooting at all, said that he wasn't involved. This doesn't mean that they're still not looking to see whether anyone else might have had any kind of meetings with the suspect, if they had anything at all to do with the shooting, helped him plan it, knew about it before or afterwards and perhaps didn't say anything.

So far, it's our understanding, though authorities have talked with a lot of people, they haven't been able to nail anything down just yet. So then the question becomes, Was he a lone wolf? We did hear this from the FBI director at the press conference. He said -- when asked if there were others, he said, Well, we're still looking, we're not excluding any possibility. And then he added, We have nothing to suggest that any additional threat remains.

So for now, he appears to be the only person involved, but authorities aren't saying that definitely just yet, Fred.

WHITFIELD: And Susan, it seems as though that makeshift memorial behind you is growing. What more can you tell us about who has been coming out and what they've been leaving?

CANDIOTTI: Well, of course, it started last night, an impromptu kind of thing with candles and a few photographs. But throughout the day, it has grown tremendously, since before dawn and even now as people are coming along and bringing candles, they're bringing bouquets of flowers and little mementos, as well as signs, some of them saying, "Fight, Gabby, fight," referring to the congresswoman, Giffords, telling her -- her first name is Gabrielle, of course, and Gabby for short for that. And that's how people around here know her.

And so it's an indication that people here care. They're hurt about what happened. They know that it's impacting not only their community but the entire country as people try to come back from the shock of this and what it means, the big picture here. And so it's rather interesting to see families come here with small children to pay their respects.

WHITFIELD: Susan Candiotti in Tucson, thank you.

And now a remembering of the six people killed in that shooting rampage. Dorwin Stoddard was a retired construction worker. Witnesses say the 76-year-old was killed trying to shield his wife from the gunman. Also killed, a federal judge. John Roll was the chief judge of the U.S. district court for Arizona. Dorothy Morris and Phyllis Scheck were among the oldest victims. At 9 years old, Christina Green was the youngest. And 30-year-old Gabe Zimmerman was an aide to the congresswoman.

And we'll bring you much more on the investigation and the victims throughout the next hour.

Also, we're going to be keeping you posted on this huge weather system that is sweeping through the South. We're talking about snow and ice. Already signs of it in parts of Texas, and it's expected to spread from Texas to the Carolinas. Up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: All right, nasty weather in the Southeast already sweeping parts of Texas and beyond. Jacqui Jeras in the Weather Center. Oh, it's going to be ugly.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It is, yes. Stay home. Just stay home!

WHITFIELD: OK!

JERAS: Right? It's Sunday. Unless you're required to be at work tomorrow, then maybe that's a different story. But plan what you're going to do with your kids because they're probably not going to be at school tomorrow. We've got winter storm warnings covering about 12 states here across parts of the South, and that stretches from Texas all the way over into the Carolinas.

Now, Dallas, the snow is over with for you. You got several inches on the north side of town. But we're going to transition later on tonight to a little bit of freezing drizzle. So the winter storm warning stays in effect for you.

We've got freezing rain across northern parts of Louisiana. We've got snow coming down in Little Rock, a major accident along I-30. It's been shut down for a while now. They're trying to clear that accident scene. Freezing rain across central and northern parts of Mississippi. There's snow in the extreme north, and it's just trying to make its way into the Memphis are. And we've got reports of sleet in Birmingham, Alabama.

Well, you take a look at that radar there in the Atlanta metro area, you might say, Oh, my gosh, it's going to start any second. Well, guess what? Not so much, and let me show you why. As you look at that picture, you know, we've got some clouds out there, but our dew point -- for all you weather geeks out there like me -- is 4, 4, while our temperature's at 35 degrees. So you've got to have those much closer together, which means the air will be saturated, to start this thing going. So it's going to be hours, I think, before things get kicking in the Atlanta metro area.

Here's what we're expecting in terms of snow totals. Keep in mind you got to take a little bit of this with a grain of salt because some of you getting the snow are going to change over to the freezing rain. And when you do that, that's going to start to bring those totals down a little bit. But best estimate is that the heaviest snow, northern Mississippi, Alabama, into Georgia and then on into the Appalachians, into the Carolinas, and even into southern parts of -- we think Kentucky could even get some -- a little bit of snow there. Nashville, a couple of inches, Atlanta 3 to 6. You're going to see higher amounts on the north side of the city, those lesser amounts on the south side of the city. And then that accumulating ice, as I mentioned.

Here's where we're expecting the ice. This is our best estimate, and this is just one computer model, mind you. And the main thing to pay attention to is where we're getting these quarter and half-inch totals. That will basically paralyze you. You start getting more than that for freezing rain, you get power outages. You get roads that you absolutely can't drive on. So if it's precipitating and icing, don't go anywhere.

WHITFIELD: OK.

JERAS: This is going to last into Tuesday.

WHITFIELD: Heed the warning. All right. Sounds good to me. Stay off the roads, if you can.

JERAS: Yes.

WHITFIELD: Appreciate it, Jacqui.

All right, next, we're going to hear from an intern of Congresswoman Giffords, and he, by the way, is credited with helping to save her life.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: During that horrible shooting rampage yesterday, there were acts of bravery in the crowd. One such act was performed by Representative Giffords's intern, Daniel Hernandez. Hernandez used his medical training to attend to Giffords's wounds until an ambulance arrived.

Here now is Ted Rowlands with his conversation with Hernandez.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANIEL HERNANDEZ, REP. GIFFORDS'S INTERN: So I was about 40 feet away from the congresswoman and the place where she was meeting with constituents. And I was kind of behind a corner, so I couldn't see directly where the congresswoman was from my position. I heard the gunshots, and I knew that people had been injured, most likely. So I ran towards where the congresswoman was.

When I got there, I saw that there were people who had been injured. I then tried to see who had a pulse still, see if people were still breathing. I was only able to check two or three people before I noticed that Congresswoman Giffords had been injured severely. So then she became my first priority -- not just because of her position but also because of the severity of her wounds.

She had a shot to the head, so I tried to make sure that I picked her up so that she wasn't in a position where she could asphyxiate on her own blood because of the position that she was originally in. I then started applying pressure to her wound to try and kind of stem some of the blood loss.

I couldn't see an exit wound. I didn't know if there was one. All I saw was the entry wound. That's where I was applying the pressure. One of my concerns immediately was I'm touching her wound with my bare hands, and even if we do end up getting her to the emergency services pretty quickly, there was a fear of infection. People from Safeway came outside with smocks from the meat department which were clean, that we were able to then use to cover her wound.

She was alert and conscious, but she wasn't able to speak. So the way that she was communicating was by grabbing my hand and just squeezing.

My main thing was just trying to keep her as alert as possible and just keep trying to interact with her so that she was still acting with some response.

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And she was?

HERNANDEZ: She was. The entire time that I was with the congresswoman, she was still responding. She was obviously in a lot of pain, so I just let her know to squeeze my hand as hard as she needed to.

Once the emergency services came and I no longer was providing the care, my main concern was making sure that she knew that someone was there with her, no matter what happened, that she knew someone was there holding her hand.

ROWLANDS: Did you save her life?

HERNANDEZ: I don't think that I did. I think it was emergency services. People have been referring to me as a hero. I don't think that that's something that I am. I think the people that are heroes are people like Gabby, who are public servants and who have dedicated their lives to public service. So it just makes me happy that I was be able to help her in any way that I could.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, Ted Rowlands joins us now live from Tucson. I know he's very modest, he doesn't want to take the credit. But surely, her family members are very thankful that Mr. Hernandez was there.

ROWLANDS: Absolutely. And they have contacted him and said thank you. You know, Fredricka, this is an amazing young man. I spent a lot of time with him today. His training, his medical training was a couple classes in high school. He says he remembered it like that, jumped into action, and the congresswoman is alive because he jumped into action he and kept his wits about him.

WHITFIELD: All right, Ted Rowlands in Tucson, thanks so much.

When we come back, we're going to be talking to other congressional leaders who will be revealing how they're protecting themselves.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: The attack in Tucson raises a lot of questions about the safety of our elected officials. Let's get right to our congressional correspondent, Dana Bash, who joins us now from Capitol Hill. This was a big discussion during a conference call involving a lot of lawmakers today. DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A lot of lawmakers. I'm told 800 people were on this conference call -- very, very rare, Democrats and Republicans. I spoke to several lawmakers, Republicans and Democrats, afterwards, and all of them said that they were struck by how bipartisan it was in tone, how forceful and gracious were the words that I was told that were used by a Democrat to talk about John Boehner, that Republican House Speaker, and Nancy Pelosi.

And then the gist of it was for them to give an update on Congresswoman Giffords's status, much of which, we're told, we know from press conferences out of Arizona, but also to talk about security, as you mentioned. And not a lot of new ideas apparently coming from the Sergeant at Arms who's spoken on - and the Capitol Police except recommending to members of Congress, Fred, that they designate a district staff member to deal with security issues and reach out to local law enforcement officials when they feel that it is necessary when they're having local events as Gabrielle Giffords did and as every member of Congress does all across the country.

One other interesting note, I had mentioned I was talking to members of Congress, I just hung up the phone with the Republican Jason Chaffetz of Utah, and he actually told me that he is somebody who - because the law allows it in his home state of Utah, has carried a concealed weapon. He has a license for it. He's done it before. But he told me that he, quote, may do it even more now given what happened in Arizona.

He also mentioned something interesting. We're also trying to get a sense of anything new that might come about in terms of security for members of Congress. He said that he might propose the idea of getting the U.S. Marshal Service, which now protects federal judges, protects them out - out of Washington, protects them at their homes, maybe getting them to help members of Congress when they're at their homes or their districts when it's necessary.

Chaffetz said to me, look, I feel a vulnerability at my residence. It's so easy to figure out where a member of Congress lives. So very interesting to hear these conversations and talk to members of Congress as they're reassessing how they do business given what happened to their colleague who was very - is very well liked among both parties.

WHITFIELD: Meantime, there's also some legislation or at least some proposals that will be considered on the Floor next week. Among them - what?

BASH: That's right. Well, the actual policy legislation, partisan legislation that had been planned, which was to repeal health care reform, that's gone. That is no longer - we found out that yesterday that's no longer going to be on the table.

And we are told now that House Democratic and Republican leaders are working together now, Fred, to come up with a resolution commemorating what happened in Arizona, to commemorate the people who died especially that one staffer who was killed and to talk about how horrible the - the tragedy is. They're working on the language now, but that is something that we're going to see a debate on, discussion on. Debate is probably the wrong word - discussion on probably all day on Wednesday when members of the House come back.

We're also told that there's likely to be another security briefing in Washington for these members of Congress and their staff on Wednesday - Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Dana Bash in Washington. Thanks so much for that.

Meantime, when we come back, more on the intensifying investigation of the shooting that took place yesterday in Tucson.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: New details about that shooting in Tucson, Arizona killing six people and wounding 14 others, including Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

Here's what we know right now. Doctors say they're cautiously optimistic about Giffords' recovery. They say she suffered a devastating bullet wound to the brain. She is in a medically induced coma following surgery, but doctors say when eased off the anesthesia she actually responds to commands, which they call very encouraging.

The suspect, 22-year-old Jared Lee Loughner, will make his first court appearance tomorrow in Phoenix. He's charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder and attempting to assassinate a member of Congress. Court documents say they found an envelope in his home with the words, quote, "I planned ahead my assassination", and the name Giffords on it, along with what appears to be Loughner's signature.

Meantime, investigators have identified and ruled out a person of interest, who was being sought in connection with the shooting. A law enforcement source says the man was a cab driver who dropped Loughner off at the supermarket where Giffords was holding that event.

So it's a question a lot of people ask in the wake of a mass killing like the one that took place yesterday in Tucson. What leads anyone to commit such a heinous crime? The local sheriff says Arizona's intense political climate and lack of discourse could have been motivating factors for the suspect.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF CLARENCE DUPNIK, PIMA COUNTY, ARIZONA: When you look at unbalanced people, how they are - how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of the certain mouths about tearing down the government, the anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous. And unfortunately, Arizona, I think, has become sort of the capital. We have become the Mecca for prejudice and bigotry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: National political correspondent Jessica Yellin is on the phone with us from Tucson.

So you wonder, you know, Jessica, if the sheriff's words are being echoed there?

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): You know, Fredricka, there are those people here who are very upset about the political rhetoric and wonder if it contributed. But I've also spoken now with Trent Humphries who runs the Tucson - director of the Tucson Tea Party. And as you might imagine, he at first is saddened by the events, but also very upset and angry with the sheriff.

Some of the Tea Party activists in his group, he says, feel that this is being inappropriately politicized, and that there's zero reason as we all know to connect so far the suspect to the Tea Party or any political organization in particular, granted the sheriff didn't do that, but they feel that the sheriff's words are leading others to the conclusion that somehow the conservatives are to blame.

And so there is among the Tea Party groups here in Tucson a sense of real frustration and outrage right now. Frankly, not a whole lot of willingness to look at any of their language because - or to engage in self-reflection because they're so frustrated and angry with the criticism they feel coming towards them.

WHITFIELD: Well, I wonder, too, you know, Jessica, if there's been any further response even from Congressman Brady who I spoke with earlier who talked about wanting to launch some legislation that would make it a federal crime to use the image or the name of any elected official in any association with crosshairs or target, any of that. And he made direct reference to an image that was on the website of former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, her Political Action Committee, where something of that was used on that website where there were crosshairs and there was a mention of certain congressional districts.

YELLIN: Right. There is - Sarah Palin had on her PAC page and on her Facebook page, where I hear is 20 different Democrats in the crosshairs and she had a Twitter message that said we don't retreat. We reload. It sent people to the picture of the crosshairs.

What Palin herself has said, you know, there was no connection. That she didn't intend to incite violence in any way, she said that when that first came out, and she's issued a statement of sadness.

What the folks here - you know, this really does break down on partisan lines as best I can tell right now, Fredricka. I'm inundated with e-mails from Democrats and Republicans with many of the conservatives feeling that this is unbelievable to them that the media and not the left in their view would be talking about limiting first amendments rights like how you make a political statement in the way Mr. Brady was referring to at a time like this. Why are we having this conversation?

And many on the left are asking the media, why are you talking about rhetoric when we should be talking about gun rights and who should have the gun. So what this has led to is a lot of frustration and - and heightened tension. Not a lot of people agreeing that rhetoric is what's to blame here.

WHITFIELD: All right. Jessica Yellin joining us from Tucson there. Appreciate that insight.

Meantime, the other big story we continue to watch this afternoon, big nasty weather on the way in the south. We'll get the latest on the winter storm that is spreading snow, ice, all of that across the region.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. We've been talking about the snowstorm that's on the way in the south, but guess what? It's already here in some parts.

Jacqui Jeras in the Weather Center.

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. Ice is accumulating and that's one of our biggest concerns here.

WHITFIELD: Oh, boy.

JERAS: We have some snow out there. And a lot of people can drive on a little bit of snow, but when we're talking about freezing rain, it's a whole different ballgame and only takes a little glazing to cause problems.

This is some new video that we just got from our affiliate out of Shreveport, Louisiana. And take a look at that. Yes, we've got ice starting to collect on power lines as well as on trees, so very concerned about outages and tree limbs coming down. You certainly do not want to travel in this area any longer today. We had several hours of freezing rain in Shreveport and now it's changed over to some snow, so you're not going to see some of those slick spots out there.

As you take a look at the big picture, as a whole, you can see all the warnings in effect for more than a dozen states here into the southeast. And we're expecting to see snow on the northern tier of the system. Ice right in the middle, and then, yes, we're looking at lots of heavy rain across parts of the south.

Now, the good news is things are winding down a little bit in some parts on the western end of the storm. Like, Dallas, you guys are done with the - for the most part with the snow, but a little freezing drizzle is possible overnight. Little Rock here in the thick of it right now with heavy snow. We've had lots of accidents along I-30 here as well as into the Pine Bluff area. We have an accident on 530 there, and now we're getting reports of a lot freezing rain started to accumulate in Jackson, Mississippi.

While it looks like that rain is starting to come down in the Atlanta area, not just yet. That cold air is in place, but we're waiting for that moisture to come in and saturate the atmosphere a little bit more. This is a southern tracking storm and that's why we're getting so much wintery precipitation along with it. It's going to ride up towards the Carolinas for tomorrow and possibly even make its way into the mid-Atlantic and Northeast on Tuesday and into Wednesday.

So this storm is just getting started. We've got a long ways to go with it. Fredricka, we'll be tracking it and keeping you up to date as conditions go downhill.

WHITFIELD: Of course. All right. Thanks so much, Jacqui.

All right. Meantime, the southern storm certainly is going to put the hamper on air travelers. Already delays and cancellations have already taken place.

CNN's Catherine Callaway is at the Atlanta Airport with more on this - Catherine.

CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fredricka. You are so right. Not - the snow is not even here yet, and already a couple of thousand flights have been canceled here at the Atlanta Airport. Sometime after midnight tonight, we might see that snow start to fall. But already Delta has canceled just tonight alone about 330 flights anticipating that snow as it's moving from Texas and Louisiana towards Atlanta.

Flights for tomorrow already 1,400 flights have been canceled by Delta - Delta and connection - Delta connection flights. That's about 25 percent of all Delta flights. So significant cancellations. We've also seeing United and Continental, they've canceled about a dozen flights. AirTran 14 flights just tonight, 270 flights tomorrow.

We also went by the USO today and saw a number of U.S. troops waiting to fly back to active duty tonight, expected to head out to Afghanistan. They're no sure if they're going to make it out in time. They're hoping to, of course, either be able to stay in local hotel rooms and not be stuck here at the Atlanta Airport for the next couple of days.

But, again, we're anticipating the snowstorm as it heads towards the Atlanta Airport. And, Fredricka, as you know, many of the connection flights that come into Atlanta, it's going to affect air travel all over the country and a lot of these airlines are saying if you reschedule your flight now before Tuesday night, there will not be any penalties. All of that will be waived. So call ahead.

WHITFIELD: Best advice. All right. Catherine Callaway at Atlanta's airport. Thank you.

And next, we're going to talk more about the investigation of that shooting in Tucson. An update on the Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords' condition after that mass shooting. Dr. Sanjay Gupta will be joining us to talk more about her injuries and recovery.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords is still being treated at a hospital in Tucson. She is in Intensive Care, but what is really encouraging is we're hearing from doctors today who say that they are optimistic for a number of reasons. CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is here to give us a better understanding as to why. First off, you know, we're learning a little bit more about the entry and exit of the bullet wound to her brain.

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. I mean, that there was an entry and exit wound, first of all. Because a lot of times it's not was known as a through-and-through injury, and that's - that's more concerning I think from neurosurgeon's perspective.

We did get a lot more information. We understand the bullet sort of came in from the back on the left side and exited near the front on the left side. Important because, you know, you have a certain energy to the - to the bullet. It's better not to transfer all that energy inside the brain to let some of it escape, as was the case here. I think that's one of reasons they're optimistic.

Let me just show you really quickly just here. They talked about the operation itself. If you think about a bullet coming in and pushing the bone in as well, so the bone, in fact, acts like a little - little missiles into the brain and then the bullet exiting, you have to sort of take those bone fragments out, stop any bleeding in that area, and try and take away any of the tissue that may have been significantly damaged as a result of the bullet.

Another thing they did, which I think is a lot of people will be interested in, is they took of more bone than just the area that was actually injured here, because they want to remove this bone and allow the brain to swell. It's going to swell -

WHITFIELD: Because that is naturally going to happen.

GUPTA: It's going to swell, and - and if you have the skull there, it's trying to swell against a very hard surface and that can be, you know, a real problem. So take the bone out and leave it out for a period of time, weeks, sometimes even a couple of months. Whenever - whenever she's ready, the brain swelling has gone down, they'll put that bone back eventually. But, right now, she will have, you know, an absence of bone on the left side of her head and we know that the bullet exited somewhere near the left front.

We asked specifically, as you know, she's had no - no damage that the doctor removed to her left eye, a black right eye, he said, blackened eye.

WHITFIELD: Why is it so important that they have her in this medically induced coma, as well, and - and, you know, at what point are they able to continue to see whether, you know, her - here senses are working, whether she can continue to respond to some instruction?

GUPTA: You know what's so fascinating is that these types of medicines that they used for the medically-induced coma work very quickly and they come off very quickly. So my guess is, and this is what typically happens in a lot of hospitals, is she's in that - got a lot of those medications, then they just stop the medications and within a few minutes they can go over to her and ask her, can you hold up two fingers, can you wiggle your toes, and then they put the medications back on.

The medications sort of allow the brain to rest, kind of let it relax, you know, make it so that it's not demanding as much blood flow, and that actually can help with the swelling as well.

You know, one of the biggest important pieces of news - good news was that she was actually able to communicate earlier even before she went into surgery. And we talked to Dr. Friese, who specifically commented. He was one of the first doctors to examine her when she got to the hospital. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. RANDALL FRIESE, TRAUMA SURGEON: One of the first things I wanted to do was assess her ability to understand what was going on and I also wanted to reassure her. So one of the first things I did was I held her hand and I leaned in close to her and told her that she was at the hospital, that we were going to care for her, and I wanted to see if she understood what was happening and I asked her to please squeeze my hand. She gave me a great big squeeze. At that point, I was very encouraged that it's a good finding and she understood what I was asking.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA: Because not only was she able to hear him, she was able to process that information and then execute a - a command based on that. So that indicates a very high level of brain function. That was before the surgery. She was doing the same thing after the surgery. So that's why they say they're optimistic.

WHITFIELD: Is it fair to kind of come up with a timeline of what would be next, how long would they keep someone in a medically induced coma, how long do you do anything until the next step?

GUPTA: Well, you know, it's - as you might expect, it varies from patient to patient, injury to injury. But, you know, typically swelling over two to three days is sort of the critical period.

At this point, you know, doctors are still thinking about we want to make sure she survives all this, you know, and that swelling is sort of issue number one and that can be treated with medications if necessary, she might need more surgery, but it sounds unlikely at this point. But that's really over the next few days.

WHITFIELD: Wow. Very encouraging information that came out of that hospital, though, earlier today.

GUPTA: Yes.

WHITFIELD: The doctors seem very encouraged and rather optimistic, as much as they can be.

GUPTA: Yes. And I think they were very appropriate in not speculating on the very long term. I think they cannot and probably should not at this point because again it's so variable. That's the question a lot of people are asking is that she survives, but what kind of shape will she going to be in the long run? You just don't know.

And I think you'd probably, you know, as they - as they've said, it is just probably not at this point appropriate to even to - to speculate on that. But over the next several days they may have more - more clues on that.

WHITFIELD: All right. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks so much. It is very fascinating. Of course, everybody wishes her the best and a full recovery.

GUPTA: Yes, and good things for her. Yes.

WHITFIELD: Thanks.

All right. Friends and members of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords' synagogue also held a special prayer vigil for her today. They gathered at this congregation, Chaverim. It's a reform synagogue in Tucson.

Giffords became Arizona's first Jewish congresswoman in 2007 and she was recently appointed one of five lawmakers to serve on the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council. Her rabbi says today's message was about peace and hope.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RABBI STEPHANIE AARON, CHAVERIM SANCTUARY: I said that we can all - it's a quote from a story, Hasidic story about being able to fly with each other above the violence and above the deep anxiety and fear, above this place that our society has entered and to reconnect with each other as individuals, each one with a sacred purpose in this world, and I hope that that is the message that comes from this morning. A message of hope, a message of peace, and a message of being able to truly talk to each other and tune (ph) us up. Because we all know Gabby is the consummate listener. She's also the consummate - has this ability to talk to all the generations. She can talk to a 4-year-old as well as she can talk to a 94-year-old, and that's what we all need to focus on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Rabbi Aaron has a long history with the family. She officiated at the Giffords' wedding to astronaut Mark Kelly just about four years ago.

Remembering the six people killed in this shooting rampage now. Dorwin Stoddard was a retired construction worker. Needless (ph) to say, the 76-year-old was killed trying to shield his wife from the gunman. Also killed a federal judge, John Roll was chief judge of the U.S. District Court of Arizona. Dorothy Morris and Phyllis Scheck were also among the oldest victims killed. And just nine years old, Christina Green, was the youngest, and 30-year-old Gabriel Zimmerman was an aide to the congresswoman.

And, of course, we'll bring you much more on the investigation, the victims and where this nation goes from here throughout the next hour.

All right. Millions took to Facebook to talk about this shooting rampage. Next hour, we'll hear about the overwhelming response from the sister of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Don Lemon is coming up next.

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